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I hadn't had a Sole this year so a good window appeared Saturday/Sunday night, the weather looked good both days so we organised a day out Sunday to. We left Cobbs for the 5.30 bridge having had a bad run down, a huge amount of unhealthy food that could be microwaved and a good supply of Guinness zero we got to the bridges. Crew looked upset, "I've left the Guinness behind!!" hey ho. Our plan was Squid, Cuttle , and Sole Saturday night then Plaice on Sunday with Stuie. We got down the front trying for Macks but none obliged, an hour of daylight and a couple of drifts produced some Plaice but all small. Down with the hook as darkness fell only to find my anchor light had blown which left me a bit twitchy, luckily flat calm and no wind except 3-4mph SW. The fun fair raged on the pier followed by a firework display just as caught my first Squid on a jig. The Squid and Cuttle were not throwing themselves at us but a steady flow gave us nearly a bucket full. All this time we had 4 Sole rods out, every single cast single or double shots of Pout, then the Congers started, from bootlaces to feisty 15lbs EVERY SINGLE DAMN DROP!!!!! Usually taking the Pout which had just eaten the Sole bait, we had one occasion where a Pout took the worm, a conger about 3-4lbs took the Pout and a 15lbs Conger then ate the pair of them!!!! Cannabalistic Congers (could be good to thin them out!!) So we moved, the disco at Studland was that loud we could pick out the tunes and sing along, a lot of Bowie which i like. MORE Conger and Pout, another move and same again. It was about 2am now and i was getting fed up with straps and Pout so said to J2 i was going to put my head down for an hour. He was into another fish and suddenly a shout, grabbing the net i looked over to see a Turbot i thought which turned out to be a lunker of a Plaice on the first dropper, followed by a Pout on the second and b----r me a chunky Sole on the bottom dropper!!!!! My crew really do have golden goolies!!!. Obviously sleep was forgotten but only more conger, and pout and small Bream, a few squid and Cuttle followed. I did mange a great Red Mullet and a few strings of Scad as daylight broke. ALL night a trawler was working south of us around Dolphin Sands and another just East of East Looe in front of Sandbanks and Canford Cliffs really close in. We headed in to get Stuie from Cobbs on the 7.30 then out with him on 8.30. First drift in the Swash as per usual Stuie had the first Plaice, some Wrasse Giltheads and Plaice to follow. The weeds and crowds started around 10 so off down the front. A few bits and pieces but nothing exciting, around 12 j2 and me were begining to flag and the wind was getting up, so we tried the Patch, with no new speices and wind getting even more we headed in for a Gilt in the harbour before getting the 2.30 bridge. We had a great trip ticking the boxes but a shame we didnt find a few more Sole. Brilliant to have Stuie on board showing us how to do it, but i have to say the body does not like doing straights any more!!! It never used to be a problem but i certainly new it after driving back to Wiltshire. Hopefully a photo if i have sorted out my JPEG from my HEIF!!!!

Drove along the east cliff on my way home from Dean Court saturday night and it looked perfect conditions with good moonlight and fireworks. Hopefully cover boy J2 will appear below....

Out on Friday and Saturday in Poole area with the two Trevor's. Both days went well with plenty of fish, Tope to 30lb, Smooth Hound 11lb, Congers, Bass, Bream. The weather good both days with some intervals when it got a little bumpy. Both Trev's are good company and a very sociable enjoyable weekend. Plenty of laughs and a bit of banter and a few dodgy knots to laugh about. 1 mackerel over two trips and 4 lazy lines out most of the time. Martin was along side on Saturday. (They get up late in Poole). We had been on anchor for a couple of hours😄. In good club spirit, we delivered some bait over as we past by. On Friday TT and I spotted a Sib by Hengistbury going back to Christchurch and we both said ‘sod that for a game of soldiers’. Today, at the boat show, I spoke to a couple and … guess what? ….it was them. What are the chances of that? TW done a great job on the wash down and left me with little to do. I was pretty exhausted after two days, definitely feeling my age, but still had a blast, thanks guys for a lovely weekend.

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A great day out for me on Y-Knot with Mal, thank you. Lovely day in great company. Photos to follow.

Thanks Rob, Jim was going to post, hopefully sort changing HEIF to JPEG VERY soon, i can do it with individual pictures but want to do it for all.